I have an old 97 Trek 6500 that I rode for a while until I gotmarried 3 years ago. I am getting back into riding and am debating upgrading the components. What I am wondering is it worth it on this old frame or should I just ride the bike till it breaks and get a qhole new bike. Cost is not really a bike deal just curious if the frame is worth putting the money into.

I work in a shop...and I like to build up my own bikes cause I get everything so cheap! But even then, it's better to buy a complete bike. I'll give you an example... I have an old specialized hardtail I want to get up and running again. I need new cranks and a fork for it...oh a front derailure too. Well I started pricing everything... and just for the hell of it I priced out a new HT from specialized...nothing fancy just descent.... Well it turns out I can get a whole bike for about 50 bucks more than what the parts to build up my HT would cost. Granted they aren't all the highest end stuff and not the same EXACT parts I was looking at...but it will get me up and running!

In short...for what you'll spend to upgrade and get your bike back up and running you COULD spend almost as much as you would for a new bike!

But of course this is all depends on what you want to upgrade and what you're looking for. With the newer bikes you will have the disc tab on the frame so if you wanted to ever go with them it would be no problem...unlike your old bike.

I ride on the local bike path after work that also has a few easy trails of it and am starting to get into riding on some more technical trails. The main thing that got my thinking is I have an old rock shox Indy C which is useless. Plus it has old sachs shifters which are a real pain as soon as it gets bumpy. I am about to put my motorcycle up for sale so once I sell that I will have a better idea of how much I want to spend and will probably find a mid grade dual as a replacement, but will have to wait a month of so and see. I figure$1300-$1600 should set me up very nicely with a bike that I can keep for a very long time.

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"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, "WOW, What a Ride!" - unknown
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